No PC candidate in Calgary-Buffalo

The PC party is scrambling to find a candidate in Calgary-Buffalo before their Campaign College event in Edmonton next month. The nomination vote was supposed to take place tonight http://goo.gl/HWRG1 — but the one candidate who expressed an interest didn’t have the proper number of signatures, says PC party campaign manager Susan Elliott.

However Elliott said potential candidates are now coming out of the woodwork. The party is trying to figure out whether to have a nomination vote in early February, before the college, or simply appoint the Calgary-Buffalo candidate.

Nomination chairman Steve Chapman said a miscommunication between constituency association members meant no ad announcing the nomination race was placed in newspapers.

Whoever ends up waving the banner for the PCs in the inner city riding will go up against popular Liberal incumbent Kent Hehr, an easy-going, former mayoral candidate known for taking a keen interest in issues affecting those living in Calgary’s Beltline towers.

Even Chapman acknowledges Hehr “is a popular person here” and Calgary-Buffalo is not an easy riding for the Tories.

“I think that’s a big concern.”

Chapman also said it’s tough to campaign in highrises, and the riding usually has lower low voter turnout and a more transient population than other constituencies.

But Chapman said Calgary-Buffalo might offer favourable circumstances for a Tory defeated in another city riding nomination race.

“It’s a huge opportunity for any candidate who wants to jump back on the bandwagon.”

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